


pull a white rabbit out of a hat

by Anonymous



Category: Oh My Girl (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Magical Realism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-09
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:02:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22026028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: All of these are reasons, Seunghee reflects on as she shoves an entire box of candles and spell books into the back of her closet, that she should've said no to Mihyun's request. Instead, she'd let the mental image of Shiah's long legs and cherry-shaped lips cloud her judgment.
Relationships: Hyun Seunghee & Yoo Shiah | YooA
Comments: 3
Kudos: 28
Collections: AML's Holiday Fic Exchange 2019





	pull a white rabbit out of a hat

**Author's Note:**

  * For [yeonhee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/yeonhee/gifts).



> happy holidays, yeonhee! you said magic and "friend of a friend needs a place to stay" and things sort of spiraled out from there. i hope you enjoy!

In retrospect, Seunghee probably should've turned down Mihyun's request. It's just that, when Mihyun had said, "I need a favor. You know my friend, Yoo Shiah?", Seunghee was already primed and ready with an emphatic _yes_. 

Seunghee only knew Yoo Shiah as a friend of Mihyun's friends, the dancer with a figure like a music box ballerina and a face like an actual, literal fairy. On the occasions they've hung out, over drinks for Mihyun's birthday or when they needed an extra person for their escape room group, Shiah has been warm and gracious and genuinely interested in Seunghee's life, leaning in to ask her, "So, you teach music to children?" 

But Seunghee had wanted to get to know her more and this favor that Mihyun is asking for—"Could you let Shiah stay with you for a few days? The heat is out at her apartment and you know my roommates would kill me."—could be the perfect opportunity to do so.

The only problem is, well, everything. 

"You cannot talk while she's here," Seunghee tells MK. 

MK blinks up at her with a skeptical expression in his green eyes. 

"I'm serious," Seunghee repeats, more stern this time. "No talking. Not even when you think she isn't around. And you have to eat some cat food. Not a lot, but some."

"Meow," MK says, then stalks away, tail swishing behind him. 

Seunghee, like her mother before her and _her_ mother before her and an entire family tree of women, possesses magic. The power running through her veins is as natural to her at this point as a heartbeat or her own breath, something physiological. Her magic isn't performed in words or incantations, but in feelings, in the energy she puts out into the world. She thinks about cold toes and her favorite pair of fuzzy socks come marching out of her bedroom, having first crawled out of her dresser and then slipped their way under the door. She feels sad, the kind of profound loneliness that physically aches, and she looks outside her window to find that a cloud of rain has settled over her building and _only_ her building, a mini downpour to suit her mood. 

It takes real effort to turn off these natural reactions. Seunghee tries her best to hold it in at work (though she occasionally enters the classroom to find that her piano is playing, by itself, a tune stuck in her head), but home is where Seunghee relaxes. It's where she talks to a cat and where a knife can chop a carrot on its own and where Seunghee once made it rain cherry blossoms after a dream. 

And then there's all her stuff. Seunghee doesn't deal much in the spiritual side of things and she doesn't have a need for all of the chalices and the knives and the funny looking rocks that can transfigure or enchant the person who touches them, but between her coming-of-age ritual and years of holidays, Seunghee has amassed quite the collection anyway. 

All of these are reasons, Seunghee reflects on as she shoves an entire box of candles and spell books into the back of her closet, that she should've said no to Mihyun's request. Instead, she'd let the mental image of Shiah's long legs and cherry-shaped lips cloud her judgment. 

She has just finished magic-proofing her apartment when Shiah arrives. 

Seunghee throws open her door, smiling in what she hopes is a casual, eager but not _too_ eager kind of way. Shiah smiles warmly back. Her hair is pulled back into a low ponytail, revealing the elegant line of her neck, and for a moment Seunghee forgets that she's mid-greeting. Luckily, her words fill themselves in automatically up before Shiah seems to notice.

"Come in, come in," Seunghee says, taking the handle of Shiah's suitcase as she ushers her inside. 

Shiah toes out of her shoes in the entryway, stepping into the pair of slippers Seunghee had left out for her. "Thank you so much for letting me crash here," Shiah says. She reaches out, tugging Seunghee into a one-armed hug. "I'm so grateful, you don't even know. My landlord said they should be able to fix it by the end of the week, so just a few days max."

"As long as you need," Seunghee reassures her. "Anything for a friend of Mihyun."

"We're friends too, aren't we?" Shiah asks. 

"I'd like to be," Seunghee says. She has a feeling that maybe, with someone like Shiah, that's all it takes.

She wheels Shiah's suitcase over to the couch, parking it beside her as she sits. "It's a futon, so it folds out. I'll put a clean sheet on it for you before bed, but for now we can chill here. Or are you hungry? Thirsty?"

Shiah shakes her head. "You're such a good host! You really don't have to do anything special for me." 

"I don't have guests that often," Seunghee explains. She does not add the reason _why_ people rarely come over to her apartment. "It's just me and—oh, there he is. This is MK."

MK weaves between Shiah's legs, tail flicking against her as he circles her. He is purring and not doing anything weird, thank goodness, but Seunghee swears he winks when he looks back in her direction. Shiah reaches down, scritching MK on the side of his face, and he nuzzles against her. "Oh my gosh, he's so cute. I remember you showing me pictures of him. How'd you get him to wear that parrot costume?"

"He hated it," Seunghee says. MK meows in agreement.

Shiah straightens up, and Seunghee watches her eyes sweep over the living room and kitchen. She really does look like a doll, all doe-eyed and pink-cheeked. "You have a cute apartment," Shiah says. "I love your decorations."

"Thank you." Seunghee had tried her best to straighten up and fill in the gaps on her bookshelves, to make it look less the reality—that she'd swept half her belongings into a box now shoved into the back of a closet. 

"What's this?" Shiah asks, stepping closer to one of the shelves. "This crystal thing? It's so pretty."

Seunghee sees it at the same time that Shiah reaches for it, the shard of raw amazonite with its blue-green hue glinting in the sunlight. The shard of raw amazonite that Seunghee had missed when she'd cleared her magical items from the living room. You know, the one that, according to what Seunghee was told by the mage who'd given it to her, requires a specific warding spell to handle. 

In her rush to get to Shiah, Seunghee trips over MK, who lets out a wholly feline yowl in protest. It doesn't matter, though. Shiah's hand touches the crystal and, in an instant, she is gone. 

Or at least, Seunghee assumes Shiah is gone. The shock of it renders her immobile, her own hand frozen, stretching out to warn Shiah. Seunghee does not scream, not until she hears, from below, a tiny voice. "Um, Seunghee? Down here?" 

When Seunghee looks down, a Shiah the size of a Barbie doll is looking back up at her. "You're-"

"Did I fall and hit my head or something?" Shiah asks. Seunghee has to crouch down to hear her. At this size, Shiah's already bright voice is pitched even higher. "Is this a dream?" 

MK peeks around Seunghee's legs. He's a few inches taller than Shiah, looking, next to her, more like a giant about to take over a city than a house cat. "Was that the crystal with the transformation spell that your aunt gave you?" he asks. 

"You're not supposed to be talking," Seunghee hisses at him. "And yes, it was."

"I really feel like I am going to pass out," Shiah squeaks out. 

"No, no, don't do that," Seunghee says, and scoops Shiah into her palm. This close, Seunghee can see that Shiah's face is barely larger than her thumb, Shiah's shoulders no wider than a ruler. She feels impossibly light in Seunghee's hand as Seunghee carries her to the kitchen counter, setting her down. At least here, Shiah isn't in danger of being stepped on. 

"Just try to relax," Seunghee tells her. "I'll be right back." Then, Seunghee does what any self-respecting 20-something mage would do—she calls her mother. 

Seunghee's mother seems remarkably calm about the whole thing. "The amazonite? The one that Aunt Yeojung gave you?" she asks. Seunghee listens to her click her tongue, thinking. "If it's a simple transformation spell, it should wear off in about, I don't know. Maybe half a day or so?"

"Half a day?" Seunghee shouts. Across the room, she can see Shiah press one miniature hand to her face, concerned. "Mom, I shrunk my friend. She can't wait half a day to be human sized again. Isn't there a spell I can use or something?" 

"I can call your aunt and see if she remembers the spell she used on the stone, but honey, spellwork has never been your strong suit," her mom reminds her. And it's true. While other mages can use powerful spells to transform or create, Seunghee's own magic has always had a mind of its own. It's certainly not strong enough to transfer onto sacred objects, the way Aunt Yeojung had done with the amazonite. "It's probably better to just wait it out." 

After she hangs up, Seunghee drags a chair into the kitchen, sitting so that she's at eye level with the counter. By now, Shiah has sat down, leaning back against an old mug of coffee. Seunghee smiles weakly at her. 

"So, you're, um. A witch?" Shiah asks, looking down at her own tiny hands and arms as if to re-confirm what she knows. 

"We prefer mages?" Seunghee says. She doesn't know how to start explaining any of this. The only one of her friends who knows is Hyojung, and that was only because they'd known each other since Seunghee was a preteen without the skill to control her magic. "You weren't supposed to find out. Or, and I feel like this goes without saying, turn into a tiny human." 

"Your mom said it's going to wear off, right?"

"In half a day," Seunghee says, wincing. "Look, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen. I thought I hid everything magical. When Mihyun asked me if you could crash here, I just thought it seemed like a chance to get to know you better, but obviously it was too risky. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Shiah says, because of course she would say that. She's understanding and _nice_. "So how does this all work, anyway? How can something I touched do this?"

"It's like," Seunghee starts, pausing to gather her words. "As mages, magic exists all around us. It's like it's in the air, you know? And we can harness it in different ways. Some women in my family tree can only do simple things like, I don't know, take a feather and make it float in the air. And then others are so powerful that they can use that magic that's all around us—" Seunghee mimes pulling at the air—"and, like, infuse it into an object, so that it's just waiting to be released when someone touches it. That's usually big, important magic. Healing spells, truth spells, teleporting. But then people also use this skill for party tricks, stupid things. My aunt gave me this one a few years ago for Christmas because it's supposed to be sort of like…"

Seunghee lets her sentence trail off, the realization hitting her at once. She drops her head down on the counter. "This was already all my fault but it's actually totally all my fault," she whines into the fake granite. 

"Hey, it's okay," Shiah says again. Seunghee can feel a tug on her hair and when she tilts her head up, Shiah is pulling on a strand. "You didn't mean to." 

"I remember now. It's supposed to read your mind, whatever kind of physical transformation you want," Seunghee says. 

"But I wasn't thinking that I should be the size of," she looks down at the bottom half of her body, "a doll?" 

"It was me," Seunghee wails. "Not on purpose but I was thinking earlier? About how you reminded me of a doll? It probably picked up on what I was thinking, since I'm the one with the magic and all. I promise I wasn't trying to be weird." 

Shiah laughs. In her miniature state, it sounds like the tinkling of piano keys. "It's not weird. I get that a lot." 

Seunghee forces herself to look up at Shiah. "Are you mad at me? Can we still be friends?" 

"We can still be friends," Shiah confirms. She settles back against the mug, sitting with her knees in butterfly pose, the flexibility of a dancer. "Can you tell me more about all this magic stuff? And your cat totally talked to you earlier, right?"

They stay there, Seunghee with her head resting on her arms and Shiah curled up in front of her, talking about magic and talking cats and Shiah's upcoming performance as a backup dancer. It's the most one-on-one time they've ever spent together, the most open that Seunghee has been with anyone outside of her family, but there's nothing like accidental magic to break down any barriers. They stay there, long past the sunset outside Seunghee's windows, so long that Seunghee falls asleep right there. 

She startles awake to Shiah falling off the counter. A human-sized Shiah, who lands unceremoniously half in Seunghee's lap and half on the floor with a yelp, barely managing to avoid headbutting Seunghee. 

It takes a moment for the two of them to right themselves. "Oh, thank God," Shiah says, patting down her shoulders and stomach, touching her face and neck.

"You're back to normal!" Seunghee shouts, then Shiah is pulling her into a hug. Shiah is how she is meant to be, a centimeter or two taller than Seunghee, skinny but woman-sized in Seunghee's arms. "How do you feel?" 

"Like I just went through the world's fastest growth spurt," Shiah says, but she's smiling, and Seunghee feels tiredly relieved with how much Shiah has taken this all in stride. If anyone had to find out this way, Seunghee is glad it was her. "There's nothing around here that can accidentally make me a giant, right?" 

Seunghee shakes her head. "All magic stuff is officially out of reach. I mean, except for me." She has an idea. "Close your eyes," she tells Shiah. 

When Shiah opens them again, it's raining cherry blossoms. Shiah looks around, amazed, holding up a hand to catch a falling petal. Magic suits her, Seunghee thinks.

**Author's Note:**

> \- title from oh my girl's illusion  
> \- [amazonite](https://www.energymuse.com/amazonite-meaning) was listed with the characteristics of "fluidity", "playful", and "optimistic" so it seemed Right for a sort of playful transformation crystal  
> \- MK is onf's minkyun because i didn't want to relegate any oh my girl members to cat form and WM family!


End file.
